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was company for the workers who often joined with them in card games and darts. In April 1949, daughter Ingrid
married and moved to the Katherine Research Station with her husband Lindsay Phillips, known as Flip.
Disaster struck the Ivanhoe homestead when fire burned it to the ground. The manager resigned and
David Drysdale was asked to take up the responsibility. He managed the station for a season or two. While at the
station they were also concerned for the general wellbeing of the Aborigines, this included providing rations and
clothing. There was no local doctor and so Ingrid took on responsibility for any medical situations. If the situation
was dire, Ingrid would request a plane to take the patient into hospital in Wyndham. The Drysdales were involved
in the daily activities of the Aborigines and often were invited to attend corroborees.
After leaving Ivanhoe David filled in as manager at Rosewood Station. Later they moved to Batchelor where
David worked at Chandler’s farm growing pineapples. All their children had by then grown up and left home.
‘After much prayer and thought Dave and I decided that since all the family had now left us we would offer our
services to the Welfare Branch in Darwin for work among the Aborigines’. In 1957 they did so and the Director
of Welfare, Harry Giese, suggested that they should help start a welfare settlement on the Liverpool River, on the
remote coast of Arnhem Land.
Maningrida had been established in 1949 as a trading post in order to keep Arnhem Land Aborigines from
gathering in Darwin. The Welfare Branch felt that considerable problems resulted from Aboriginal people drifting
into Darwin and other towns. There were many setbacks and the trading post failed. By 1957 the Government had
become increasingly concerned especially with the spread of diseases like leprosy, which remained unchecked in
the reserve areas. In 1957 Maningrida was officially established as a welfare station.
Giese warned the Drysdales that ‘conditions would be primitive and the work by no means easy’, but as Ingrid
later recorded, ‘the prospect of tackling it was like tonic to us’. They arrived in May 1957. They settled in quickly
and were received well by the Aborigines. Ingrid wrote that the people were eager for them to like the country and
continually asked ‘this good country, ey?’ They had been encouraged not to tend to medical needs until a doctor
could arrive and first assess the situation. Ingrid, however, found that the need for medical attention, especially for
those with leprosy, was great. She set up a medical session twice daily for those who desired treatment.
They communicated to the people that they were not there to take away their independence and that a trading
post would be established so that they could trade goods for food; unless they were sick they would not be given
food for nothing. They stressed that they did not wish to interfere with their customs.
Ingrid diagnosed many of the Aborigines as having leprosy. This disease was known as the ‘big sick’ and
previously if anyone had the ‘big sick’ they were removed from the community and sent away to a leprosarium
where they died. Many Aborigines were scared of being treated for fear of being sent away and not being able to
die in their own land. The Drysdales did not want to send them away, yet they realised that some action had to be
taken to discourage its spread. David discussed the issue of what to do with a few Aborigines; it was decided that
a camp would be set up outside the settlement, but it would be close enough so that the patients could be fed and
tended to daily. The leprosy camp was named Alamaise.
The settlement grew in numbers daily as many Aborigines moved in from the bush. Ingrid also aimed to
improve the health of the children and pregnant mothers by supplying milk. David chose the site for an airstrip that
was first used on 24 April 1958. Soon after the District Welfare Officer, Les Penhall, visited to inspect the progress
of Maningrida and was greatly impressed. Progress had been made faster than was expected. In Ingrid’s words ‘the
Aboriginal people had so quickly learned to trust us and to seek our help’.
When food resources were strained the people would return to the bush until the boat came to replenish stock.
The town spread extensively with various huts and temporary camps. About eight months after the Drysdales had
arrived they were visited by Dr John Hargrave and his two Aboriginal assistants, Phillip Roberts and Billy Nabilya.
The doctor examined 350 Aborigines in the area during the time he was there. Phillip Roberts was later sent by
Dr Hargrave to work at Maningrida. He was known as ‘Dr Phillip’ and was trusted by the Aborigines. Phillip and
Ingrid worked together several hours each day. Ingrid commented that they worked in harmony. Phillip recalls in
I, The Aboriginal that he shared the duties of the daily clinic with Mrs Ingrid Drysdale.
One day during his stay he was asked by a group of Aboriginal men if he wanted to go on a hunting walkabout
with them. Phillip was going to decline because of work at the clinic when one of the Aboriginal men encouraged
him that Ingrid would be able to look after the clinic by herself, ‘Missus Drysdale,’ he said, ‘she properly good
doctor’. The confidence the people had in Ingrid was evident.
In 1961, after four years in Maningrida, the Drysdales left with the intention of retiring. ‘With so many of the
good things of life available here it was no longer hard to find staff for Maningrida, so ave and I decided we could
relax and hand the job over to younger and more energetic workers’, Ingrid recorded. When they left they were sent
off with the words ‘Good-bye my friend’. Ingrid wrote that she and David had come to love the people. In 1962
they returned briefly to Maningrida for the opening of the Ingrid Drysdale Hospital. The Aboriginal community
had chartered a plane to pick up the couple from Katherine and take them to the opening.
Retirement did not eventuate. After a brief holiday in Perth they accepted a request from the Territory Welfare
Branch to go to Hooker Creek. They worked in Hooker Creek for a year and then moved to Katherine where
they planned to settle down. They purchased a property that used to be the old telegraph station on the banks of
the Katherine River opposite where Ingrid and Flip Phillips lived. David was a hard worker and eagerly began
developing the property. In 1964 David had a heart attack and was told that he should no longer do any hard
physical labour. As a result they moved in June 1964 to the cooler climate of Perth.
After three years in Perth, with David several times in hospital, he went to Broome to visit his son Owen.
While there he met up with members of the Bardi tribe who had been moved from Sunday Island to Derby.
David was deeply distressed to hear of their problems and separation from the land they loved. David decided he